A quick sunday morning round up with some recent or fairly recent (should be) pop hits. This blog entry was inspired by falling madly in love with the new Hurry album Fake Ideas that came out on Friday on Lame-O Records. I’ve been somewhat familiar with this Philadelphia-based power pop band led by Matt Scottoline for a couple of years, but I didn’t fully understand how great they were until I listened this new album yesterday. Totally my kind of pop music. That double hit of It’s Dangerous and A Fake Idea in the beginning for example. Total Teenage Fanclub meets 90s US power pop perfection. Maybe a bit dangerous to feel so strongly after just few spins, but definitely feels like an instant classic and one of the best pop records I’ve heard in recent years. Monstrously highly recommended on the old Not Lame scale.

Hurry at Facebook

Next we move to Athens, Georgia to meet up with long time blog favorite Drew Beskin. I’ve loved all his work both solo and with the bands The District Attorneys, Party Dolls and PURSES. His new solo album Problematic for the People will be released 2nd of July by Super Canoe. To get a headstart, here’s a couple of gorgeous songs from the forthcoming album.

Drew Beskin at Facebook
Drew Beskin Website

Moving over to Sweden where former Merrymaker David Myhr continues to make us smile with melodic pop treasures. His new EP And Now This came out on the always great UK power pop label Lojinx. Here’s the fabulous lead single We Wanted to Shine from the new EP.

David Myhr Website
David Myhr at Facebook

Last stop on this pop goes the world tour is Nashville, Tennessee. Dungeon of Skeletons is a new one for me and I only found them some months ago. They have three singles on their Bandcamp and oh my, they are all pretty perfect pop songs. Hopefully there’s more on the way, because it doesn’t get much better than this. Here’s a couple of those singles. 2020 lyric video for Valencia and the most recent single Gonna Be Alright.

Dungeon Of Skeletons at Facebook

This June 25 release date is something else and it might take a day or two to get the new music weekly ready, because there’s so much to love and cherish. One of the key songs on it will be CARLENE’s remarkable new single Time Passes. She is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter and this is the first single from her forthcoming album Looking Out My Window that she has been working on for ten years. It’s a magical folk song and I can’t wait to hear the full album sometime this fall.

Carlene Website
Carlene at Facebook

More recent folk treasures. This time from Portland’s Jeremy Ferrara who made one of my favorite albums of 2020. He already has a new one lined up and and Everything I Hold will be released by American Standard Time Records on the 9th of July. There’s a couple of great singles out there already. I’m especially fond of this beautiful and deeply moving song called Fictional.

Jeremy Ferrara at Facebook
Jeremy Ferrara Website

Another one of these small round up of songs / albums / videos I’ve loved during the recent months. Kicking off with the brand new Charlie Marie album Ramble On that came out on the 7th of May. I loved the self-titled EP few years back and have been eager to hear more from this country songwriter. The new album doesn’t disappoint and it’s one of my favorite country records of the year. Here’s a couple of personal favorites favorites from the album. There’s more music videos on youtube and you can of course hear/listen the whole thing on her Bandcamp.

Charlie Marie Website
Charlie Marie at Facebook

Katie Jo from California (via Wichita) is a new favorite and I didn’t know her until the advance singles of her 2021 album Pawn Shop Queen started to hit the core of my heart. It came out on the 9th of April and have since been on heavy rotation. My own favorite is I Don’t Know Where Your Heart’s Been and highly recommend checking out the song and the gorgeous music video Drey Jordan Singer made for it. And if you like what you hear, check out her Bandcamp to listen and buy the whole beautiful album.

Katie Jo Website
Katie Jo at Facebook

Speaking of perfect country records, perhaps it’s time for a small revisit to Melissa Carper’s old-fashioned future classic Daddy’s Country Gold. I’ve mentioned it a few times here and there, but another reminder is in order because it’s one of the albums I’ve loved the most during the first half of 2021. Here’s one of my many favorites along with a video from the always great Western AF.

Melissa Carper Website
Melissa Carper at Facebook

Let’s wrap this little blog entry with some cover magic from Croy and The Boys. If you have ever wanted to hear how anarcho punk and country music work together, check out this marvellous Crass cover of Do They Owe Us A Living?. And well if you want to hear more of their punk covers, listen to / buy the full EP of punk covers on their Bandcamp page.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfp85WjHauA

Croy and the Boys Website
Croy and the Boys at Facebook